Company found not liable for employee attacking supervisor

A Texas Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas affirmed the decision made by the 149th District Court in Angleton to grant a staffing company’s motion for summary judgement, ruling that a workers’ compensation nonsubscriber is not liable for negligence.

Ramiro Najera, the plaintiff, performed responsibilities such as fumigating packaged rice and collecting garbage and dead pests when he worked for Freeport-based American Rice Inc. through manpower company Recana Solutions LLC.

In June 2012, Najera told his team that they would have to work late that day. One employee, James Prodoehl, begun to argue with Najera. It wasn’t until Najera threatened to report Prodoehl to their boss that Prodoehl started beating Najera with a hard hat.

Najera incurred shoulder and teeth injuries in the incident. He filed suit against Recana and American Rice, citing negligence, gross negligence, and respondeat superior – meaning that an employer is responsible for the actions of its employees throughout employees’ duration of employment. A lawsuit had also been filed against Prodoehl.